Solution for Barsoom Adventure #1: The Lost City
================================================
Game (c) 1989 by Susan Beth Schnitger.
Solution (c) 2002 by Fredrik Ekman (ekman@lysator.liu.se).
Barsoom Adventure #1: The Lost City for the CP/M operating system is,
in spite of an old-fashioned two-word parser and a few minor bugs, a
very charming adventure from days past. The prose is well-written, the
plot is a variation of "gather the hidden objects" with one or two
little twists and the problems are mostly very logical. In spite of
the title there were no sequels. It is not a very difficult game, so
veteran adventurers should only need to refer to this solution
occasionally.
The game is rather non-linear and therefore this is not a straight
walk-through. Instead each problem in the game is treated under a
separate heading.
Contents
--------
The Desert
The Thirst
The Windy Courtyard
The Labyrinth
The Body in the Labyrinth
The Roc on the Pillar
The Statues
The Gob of Goo
The Tube
The Domed Room
The Tiled Courtyard
The Brazen Grill
The Fountain
The Blue Knob
The Control Panel
Scoring
Bugs
The Desert
----------
Lost in the desert and no idea what way to go. This may look like your
standard adventure labyrinth, but it is not. If you go N then S you
will usually end up where you started. The only thing you must do to
find your way out is to go WEST, WEST, WEST from the starting point
and you will find a ravine. Also, after the second WEST you will find
a chest. OPEN CHEST and your companion forthwith, Ijjit, will fly out
and greet you.
When you have reached the ravine, just follow it SOUTH until you reach
a bridge. Cross the bridge. The area east of the ravine will not hold
anything more of interest for you.
The Thirst
----------
Throughout the game you must make sure to drink regularly, or you will
die. Do _not_ drink the water! The only liquid useful for drinking is
the wine produced by the autodispenser in the hopper. You need to have
the bottle (found in the same room). The correct command sequence is
OPEN BOTTLE, FILL BOTTLE, CLOSE BOTTLE, DRINK WINE. Each time you fill
the bottle it will last for three sips, then you must fill it again.
Never, ever, use the bottle for carrying water. It will be
contaminated and the next time you use it for wine you will be
poisoned.
(As an interesting aside it may be illuminating to consider the
amounts of alcoholic beverage consumed during this adventure, which
takes less than a day. The adventure takes not much more than 737 time
units and you must drink about once every 35 units, that is one bottle
every 105 units. A small squeeze bottle contains about one-half litre,
so that means three and a half litres total, or almost five full-size
wine bottles. Enough to make anyone see cubist dragonflies.)
The Windy Courtyard
-------------------
In the far north-east corner of the city is a windy courtyard filled
with rubble and partly covered with a sticky substance. In order to
discover what the sticky substance forms you must do the following:
Get the bowl from the hopper's hold. Take it outside the ship and FILL
BOWL (with sand). Go to the courtyard and EMPTY BOWL. You will then
find a raised brick. PUSH BRICK.
The Labyrinth
-------------
The labyrinth under the windy courtyard (far north-east corner of the
city) consists of eight identical rooms and one almost like the
others. Each room has three exists (north, east, south), a rat hole,
and three torches (one by each exit). The ninth room contains a dead
body. The trick to map the labyrinth is to EXTINGUISH TORCH, one, two
or three for each room, which will make them distinguishable. You do
this using the CUP from the hopper's hold.
The fastest path from the first room (south of the entrance) to the
room with the dead man is EAST, SOUTH, EAST, SOUTH, NORTH.
The fastest path from the room with the dead man to the exit is NORTH,
SOUTH, EAST, NORTH.
The fastest path from the first room (south of the entrance) to the
exit is SOUTH, SOUTH, EAST, NORTH.
The Body in the Labyrinth
-------------------------
The rats have stolen the dead man's knob and dragged it into their
hole. You need to be in the room containing the dead man and you need
to have the scepter. Now all you have to do is PROBE HOLE using the
SCEPTER and then TAKE YELLOW (knob).
The Roc on the Pillar
---------------------
In the far southeast corner of the city stands a fluted pillar and on
that pillar sits a hungry roc. In order to get atop the pillar without
being eaten you must have the loaf from the autodispenser room and the
net from the hopper's hold. First you need to EMPTY NET. When you get
to the square with the pillar, go UP. Timing is now of the essence and
the rest of the sequence must be executed exactly in this order and
without delay: DROP LOAF, DROP NET, UP, TAKE PURPLE (knob), DOWN,
DOWN, WEST.
The Statues
-----------
When solving the riddle of the statues you, too, must become a vandal.
Bringing the chain from the hopper's hold, PULL STATUE using the CHAIN
and targeting the GARGOYLE. Now you can TAKE BLACK (knob).
The Gob of Goo
--------------
The gob of goo which you find at the Martian inn contains, of course,
a knob. In order to obtain it you must have the bowl from the hopper's
hold. Go to the pool and FILL BOWL. Then DROP GOO. You can now TAKE
WHITE (knob). The water will have turned into paste. Save it! You will
need it later.
The Tube
--------
Quite far to the east there is a tube crossing over the canal. Before
you can solve the problem with the tube you need to figure out what to
do with the gob of goo (see above).
Bringing the bowl of paste, go to the platform (UP the granite stairs)
and EMPTY BOWL. This alone does not provide enough friction so go
outside the city and FILL BOWL (with sand). Go back to the platform
and again EMPTY BOWL. Now you can go NORTH and TAKE ORANGE (knob).
The Domed Room
--------------
The captain has hidden his note in the ceiling above the domed room
north of the large plaza. Here you will need Ijjit's involuntary help,
but Ijjit will not normally go in there with you.
Go to the autodispenser room and fill the bottle. On your way to the
domed room, DRINK WINE exactly twice (or Ijjit will drink himself to
death). When you have reached the plaza, OPEN BOTTLE and immediately
CLOSE BOTTLE. Ijjit is now inside drinking. Go NORTH, NORTH to the
domed room where you OPEN BOTTLE to release Ijjit. Now CLOSE BOTTLE
and go EAST. When Ijjit has done his thing, TAKE NOTE.
The Tiled Courtyard
-------------------
Just east of the northern end of the pool is a tiled courtyard. In
order to reveal its secrets you must make the tiles wet. Use the bowl
from the hopper's hold. By the pool, FILL BOWL, then go to the
courtyard and EMPTY BOWL. You can now go DOWN to the canal.
The Fountain
------------
Before you can solve the problem with the fountain you must solve the
problems with the tiled courtyard and the domed room.
Your first problem will be to reach the fountain in the first place.
This requires the panel, but you can get the panel across neither the
bridge nor the tube. The remaining alternative is the pool. Go to the
south end of the pool and THROW PANEL. You can then go DOWN from the
tiled courtyard and follow the canal EAST until you can TAKE PANEL. Go
to the northernmost end of the pool and DROP PANEL. Now you can reach
the fountain by going SOUTH, SOUTH.
But you still cannot take the red knob without using the orb. Take the
orb to the mouth of the tube. DROP ORB, then PUSH ORB. Fetch it by the
trampoline, bring it to the middle of the panel bridge and DROP ORB.
Now you can go SOUTH and TAKE RED (knob). (If Ijjit is with you at
this point he will throw the knob into the pool, and it will be
forever lost.)
The Brazen Grill
----------------
Before you can solve the problem with the grill you must solve the
problem with the fountain.
When you have solved the problem with the tiled courtyard you can
follow the canal to its eastern end, where you will find a brazen
grill. PRY GRILL with the STAFF and you will be able to TAKE GREEN
(knob).
The Blue Knob
-------------
Found all the knobs except the blue one (fuel injector)? Have no fear!
That one is the easiest of all. Just go the the ship's storage and
TAKE SAPPHIRE, then TAKE BLUE (knob).
The Control Panel
-----------------
Solving the problem with the control panel and starting the ship
requires that you have previously solved all other problems in the
game. You need all the knobs plus the captain's note and the page from
the manual (which you will find if you go DOWN, WEST from the tiled
courtyard).
As you bring back the knobs to the ship, INSERT BLUE (knob), INSERT
RED (knob), etc, until you have all the knobs in their proper places.
Next, make sure that you have listened to the entire log (go to the
captain's quarters and PUSH BUTTON) and read the manual page.
You can now proceed to decipher the captain's note. Just start reading
in the top left corner. Read down, then right and follow the text as
it spirals counter-clockwise toward the centre. Combining the
information from the page and the note, TURN BLUE, TURN RED, etc,
until you have set all the knobs to their correct values.
The fuel injector's blue knob must be set to 16.
The magnetic regulator's red knob must be set to 430.
The gyroscopic inhibitor's green knob must be set to 30.
The drift adjustor's yellow knob must be set to 180.
The wave enhancer's purple knob must be set to 6.
The phase shifter's orange knob must be set to 240.
The pressure magnifier's white knob must be set to 33.
The spindizzy coupler's black knob must be set to 40.
Finally, if you feel confident that everything is in order, just PUSH
BUTTON and you have completed the game!
Scoring
-------
The following are the actions that score points and the value of each.
Opening Ijjit's chest 50
Pouring water on the tiles 50
Pushing the brick 50
Releasing Ijjit from bottle 50
Taking the blue knob 10
Taking the red knob 10
Taking the green knob 10
Taking the yellow knob 10
Taking the purple knob 10
Taking the orange knob 10
Taking the white knob 10
Taking the black knob 10
Inserting the blue knob 15
Inserting the red knob 15
Inserting the green knob 15
Inserting the yellow knob 15
Inserting the purple knob 15
Inserting the orange knob 15
Inserting the white knob 15
Inserting the black knob 15
Total 400
Bugs
----
The Lost City is not without its share of bugs. Most are harmless,
however, and some are rather amusing. Here are a handful of the most
interesting.
If you slide down the tube with a full bowl, the contents will of
course spill all over the place. Even if you have placed the bowl in
an entirely different part of town...
When you climb halfway up the pillar and drop something it will fall
to the ground since there is no surface on which to put it. But if you
throw an object instead it will remain hanging in the air beside you.
Are you becoming tired of Ijjit's constant remarks? While Ijjit is
with you, you can type DROP RUBBLE and have the satisfaction of seeing
his dead body on the ground. He will keep up the comments, though.